FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT DIRECTV - PAGE 3

Comcast has sued DirecTV alleging that the satellite company is baiting consumers by advertising that its NFL Sunday Ticket service is available for free or at no extra charge. "Unfortunately for consumers, the claim of 'free' is an outright lie," according to the suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Comcast claims that DirecTV's strategy is to trap customers into the service, which requires a two-year contract with hefty termination fees and automatically renews itself in the second year.

Dish Network 's Sling-powered Internet video streaming service, Dish Anywhere, is not only being contested on legal grounds by Fox -- the satcaster also now is fighting with pay TV rivals over its trademark claim to the name. DirecTV , Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, Time Warner Cable and Charter filed challenges Wednesday to Dish's claim on "Dish Anywhere" with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. They each argue that "Anywhere" is a generic term that other companies have used for related services, and claim they would be "damaged" if Dish obtained exclusive rights to the name.

Satellite giant DirecTV has extended its deal with the NFL for Sunday afternoon games through 2014, an agreement worth $4 billion to the league. A person familiar with the contract, who spoke anonymously because no one has been authorized to reveal the figures, told AP on Monday the deal was for $1 billion a year for four years, up from an average of $700 million per season in the previous deal. "We are pleased to extend a partnership with DirecTV that has complemented and supported our broadcast television packages for 15 years," commissioner Roger Goodell said.

Tribune Co. television stations in 16 markets across the country, including WGN in Chicago, are threatening to cut off programming to millions of DirecTV subscribers after negotiations over retransmission fees broke down Monday. The contract is set to expire March 31 and Chicago-based Tribune Co. is seeking compensation from the satellite TV provider to carry its programming, something it does not receive. Without resolution, the plug will be pulled Saturday at midnight. At stake is everything from Chicago Cubs and White Sox baseball on WGN America to "The Vampire Diaries" on local CW Network affiliates.

(Reuters) - U.S. satellite provider DirecTV, which also has operations in Latin America, said on Tuesday it is in the early stages of evaluating a potential acquisition of Vivendi's Brazilian telecom unit, GVT. On a conference call with analysts to discuss DirecTV's quarterly earnings, Chief Executive Mike White said the company had received pitch books from bankers about the deal. Reuters reported in July that Vivendi was mulling a sale of the unit, which could be worth up to 8.5 billion euros ($10.42 billion)

July 11 (Reuters) - DirecTV said its customers were left without Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and 14 other channels on Wednesday after Viacom Inc demanded its networks be dropped from the satellite TV distributor's lineup as a result of a dispute over fees. DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite TV provider, said its executives approached Viacom with a new proposal and a request to continue broadcasting the channels during talks, but received no response. The standoff is the latest conflict between media companies and cable and satellite TV providers over the cost of content.

LOS ANGELES, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Time Warner Cable has reached a deal that will bring Los Angeles Lakers games to local customers of satellite provider DirecTV, one of the biggest pay television distributors in Southern California. As of Thursday, DirecTV will carry Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Spanish-language sister Time Warner Cable Deportes on its service in the Los Angeles area, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, Las Vegas and Hawaii, the companies said in a statement.

Baseball season has barely gotten underway, but Dodgers fans who subscribe to DirecTV may already be out of luck this season. Time Warner Cable has revealed that the company is no longer in negotiations with DirecTV to carry the Dodgers-owned SportsNet LA channel, meaning roughly 70 percent of L.A. households will be left without access to the team's baseball games. A Time Warner rep confirmed the news Thursday evening, saying "We can confirm that DirecTV has left the negotiating table.